<p>Some classmates of mine have been telling me that at collegeboard, when it says Average _____, for example, need based grant, it's only talking about a one time thing.</p>
<p>Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $27,699 "</p>
<p>They are saying that it's a one time thing, not annual. Which would mean that, with the total cost being around 55,000 a year, out of the 220,000 dollars for the total four years, they're only going to award 27,000 worth in grants.</p>
<p>This sounds pretty fishy to me, in fact, it sounds retarded.
(especially since it's saying "Average percent of need met: 100%" and the total of their average financial aid package and average grant is about the same of the total cost)</p>
<p>Is it true?
Or are they, as I suspect, just sophmoric idiots?</p>
<p>Haha really?
Because they’ve been constantly, for like four days in a row, *****in about how I’m going to be in sooooo much debt at the schools I’m trying to go to.</p>
<p>How the financial aid I keep mentioning isn’t really going to cover anything(because it’s like a one time thing, and basically a trick), and basically how stupid (though they haven’t actually said the word) I am for turning down a fullride to the state university all the scrubs at my school want to go to.</p>
<p>I’ve been pretty much ignoring them, because I think they’re full of bollocks.</p>
<p>And rentof2, I trust what you say, but can anyone else agree/back it up?</p>
<p>Ask them to back up what they’re saying! LOL</p>
<p>The fact is that F/A is given each year to those who qualify. It’s not a trick; it’s not a one time thing, otherwise many people could only go to school for one year. </p>
<p>BTW…do not turn down that full-ride UNTIL you’ve seen your F/A package from your favorite school. Your favorite school may put unaffordable loans or gaps in your F/A package. Do not turn anything down until you’re sure you have all your funding.</p>
<p>What is your EFC? Is that affordable? </p>
<p>I see that you’ve applied to WashU. WashU doesn’t meet need. What will you do if that happens?</p>
<p>Xemnas, I am a big fan of state universities and my ultra-high stats daughter attends one. She’s had exceptional opportunities there, in certain ways better opportunity than my son (who had great, but slightly less high stats than hers) has had at a super-selective tip-top LAC. So, I’m not going to go there with the “scrubs” remark. That’s just tacky elitism.</p>
<p>However, it doesn’t mean your friends know what they’re talking about with regards to the aid policies of WUSTL or similar privates.</p>
<p>Well, it’s not really that I turned it down, it’s more that I opened the letter they sent back in October offering it, in January.
Because, with all the colleges spamming my mail, I barely went through them.</p>
<p>However, I did tell them that even if I had opened it on time, I either wouldn’t have applied, or would have applied to it as like a last resort back up. Mostly because I want to go out of state because I think my state sucks. lol</p>
<p>Also WashU isn’t the only one I’ve applied to.</p>
<p>@Rentof2, Last, I know how my post can easily be misinterpreted, but I’m more calling them scrubs because I think my state sucks. However, there’s like everyone at my school raving about the school and like most of the AP kids applied and are going there. So, I think it’s overhyped, and I think they’re all scrubs for wanting to go there…</p>
<p>It wasn’t really about State Schools in general. I mean, NYU and Pennstate immediately come to mind as good state schools.
I’m not just like State = suck</p>
<p>But, yeah, mom2collegekids is totally right about not disregarding any financial opportunities until you’ve seen your final awards. I mean, you owe your parents at least that much.</p>
<p>You’re from Texas. That is a very good state. :)</p>
<p>I think maybe your friends are pulling your leg about the financial aid because they know how you feel about your state schools - presumably UT and TAMU. </p>
<p>I hope that you haven’t “counted your chickens” before they hatched. All of your schools are reaches. You are a URM, so that may help, but URMs get rejected, too. Did you apply to any safety schools at all?</p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC is and whether your parents can pay it? That can also be an issue.</p>
<p>They honestly aren’t pulling my leg though. They seriously think they know what they’re talking about, and it’s really annoying me.</p>
<p>But yeah, I do have a backup University that I’ve been accepted to. And U of H has a pretty late deadline, so I’m probably going to apply to there as well.</p>
<p>Also, I really don’t know much about my EFC. I did fill out a CSS Profile just a couple of days ago, but yeah. I don’t really know how to calculate it based on that information.</p>
<p>If you have no idea about your EFC how do you know if you are even eligible for much need based aid? Have you not done FAFSA yet? That is required for all your schools as well as CSS for certain schools. It will at least give you an idea if you are eligible for federal need based aid.</p>
<p>
Only someone with financial need of $27,000 will be given need based aid of $27,000. If your EFC is high you will have less need so will get less aid. If your EFC is low you will have more need so will get less aid. The $27k average is meaningless. If student A has a ton of need and gets $50,000 and Student has very little need and gets $4,000, the average need based grant for the 2 of them is $27,000. STudent B still only got $4,000.</p>
<p>My dad has been unemployed since like December 2008.
My mom has been an unemployed chemist since earlier, but has picked up like 2 jobs that don’t pay a lot.</p>
<p>So, I’m assuming it isn’t really high.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this gives you all any idea, but my mom told me that except for like 4,000 dollars, my parents didn’t have to pay for my sister who goes to Baylor.</p>
<p>I submitted the CSS profile instead, and for WashU, I remember it being around February 8. For one of my other ones, I the date is February the 1st. And I got it submitted by then.</p>
<p>You’ll need to do the CSS Profile and the FAFSA. You need to check the financial aid webpages for each college, find out what applications/documents they need, and the deadlines by which they need to be submitted. Also, remember that “meeting 100% of need” can mean a pretty heavy loan load. Hopefully for you it won’t, but most schools package loans in their aid awards and still call it “meeting need.”</p>
<p>Ahem…if the school requires the Profile AND the FAFSA , you must submit BOTH or it is very likely that the school will not process your financial aid at all. Profile schools typically are awarding a good amount of their own institutional money BUT first they want to make sure that the students who are eligible receive federal need based aid. For example, if you were eligible for the Pell Grant due to a low EFC, this money is federally funded money that would be awarded to you first…and it would save the college having to dispense that amount of institutional funding to you. </p>
<p>You need to check the websites for ALL requirements for financial aid applications and you need to do EVERYTHING the college requires.</p>